Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-02-18
no. Z.


One evening at a crowded party given 10y
Senator Dixon ! was forced bV the press
into a corner and on looking around found
my next neighbor was Secretary stanton.
BY and by Dixon came along, and spying
us said Stanton, tell him the scene be
tween old Abe aud YOU the night Of the
battle Of Gettysburg Stanton then re
lated the following -
Mr. Lincoln had been excessively solicitous
about the result Of that battle 1t was
known that Lee had crossed into Pennsyl-
vania, threatened Washington, and that
battle had been Joined near Gettysburg, up
on which, in all probability, the fate Of
Washington and the issue Of the war de
pended. The telegraphic wires ran into the
war department, and dispatches had been
received Of the results of the first days
fight, which showed how desperate was the
attack, the stubbornness of the defence,
and that the result was indecisive. All that
day and the next Mr.. Lincoln was in an
agony Of anxiety, running over, as was his
wont, to the war office to ascertain for him
self the latest news instead of waiting for
the reports to be sent him by his subordi-
mates. Then came a long interval when
nothing was heard from Meade, and the
President was wrought up to an intense
pitch of excitement. Night came ON, and
fDbiilNbllf httlIE liAt I At0iNNUb WI " 'hb
with care and anxiety, persuaded him 10
return to the White House, promising if
anything came over the wires during the
night TO give him immediate information.
At last toward midnight came the electric
flash of that great victory which saved the
! Union.
Stanton seized the despatch and ran as
fast as he could to the executive mansion,
up the stairs and knocked at the room
where the President was catching a iitful
slumber. "Who is there = he heard in the
voice of Mr.. Lincoln. Stanton The
door was opened and Mr. Lincoln appeared
with light in his hand peering through the
crack of the door, I'm the shortest night
dress and longest legs" as Stanton said,
he ever saw on a human being. Before
Stanton, who was out Of breath, could say
a word, the President, who had caught with
unerring instinct the expression of his face,
gave a shout of exultation, grabbed him
| with both arms around the waist and dane
/ ed him around the chamber until they were
! both exhausted. They then sat down upon
a trunk, and the President, who was still in
| his nightdress, read over and over again
| the telegram and then discussed with him
the probabilities of the future and the re
suits of the victory until the day dawned.
Such scene at midnight between two of
/ the greatest Americans whom tins genera
ton has produced, to whom an all-wiSe
| Providence had committed in largest meas
ure the fate of republican liberty in this
| Western world, may not afford "a subject
for the loftiest conceptions of the poet or
the painter, but more than any other Incl
dent within my knowledge it shows the hu
man nature of these two great men, and
brings them home to the hearts and hearth
stones Of the plain people Of whom Mr..
Lincoln was, on whom he depended and
whom he loved. 1t shows him brooding all
through those three awful days. with an
anxiety akin to agony which no one could
share-worn and weary with the long and
doubtful conflict between hope and fear
treading the wine press for his people alone.
And at last, when the lightning flash had
lifted the dark cloud, dancing like school
boy in the ecstacy of delight and exhibit
ing a touch of that human nature which
makes all the world akin
As look back over the intervening years
to the great men and great events Of those
historic days his figure rises before my
memory the grandest and most majestic of
them all There were giants in those days,
but he lowered above them like Popocata-
petl or Chimborazo. He was great in
character, intellect, in wisdom, in council,
in speech, in heart, in person-in every
thing -AugtiSfuS Br1Htiegee ia Tribune.